James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Here’s a chart of watercolor pigment combinations. The purpose of the exercise is to see how colors interact when they’re superimposed, rather than mixed wet. After one color swatch is painted and allowed to dry, a second color is laid over it.

The starting colors, on the diagonal from lower left to upper right, are: Winsor yellow, Winsor red, permanent alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, and Winsor green. Each possible mixture sits at the intersection of a horizontal row and a vertical column.

The arrow, for example, shows a combination of permanent alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. Farther to the right, the mixture of Winsor green and alizarin crimson makes a beautiful gray whose component colors are still visible.

I'm an illustration student at BYU-Idaho taking my first watercolor class. We've been doing exercises to help us learn, but this one would be very interesting to do with all of the pigments on my pallet. I love the dynamic color that comes from overlaying rather than mixing. Thanks for sharing!